On A Lonely Night
by chid0ri
Summary: With the war approaching, the shinobi in the Hidden Leaf Village have been very busy, leaving kunoichi Haruno Sakura feeling very lonely lately. What happens when Uzumaki Naruto comes back from a mission in the midst of the night? NaruSaku. Two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

**Naruto Shippuden  
>NaruSaku<br>1,248 words**

**Hi everyone! This is my first upload on here! ^^; I hope you guys enjoy! I love NaruSaku ;~; Reviews would be much appreciated, thanks!**

**-chid0ri**

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><p>It was a very quiet night in the small village of Konoha. It was 1 AM and most of the villagers were sound asleep in their warm beds. Although for Haruno Sakura, it was a different story. She was just about to leave the Hokage's office from her duties.<p>

"Is that all, Lady Tsunade?" Sakura asked her beloved Hokage, who was almost drunk off of sake.

"Yes, yes, Sakura, you may go," she said, gesturing her hand carelessly, telling her to leave.

"Alright, goodnight Lady Tsunade," Sakura said as she bowed graciously and turned to leave. Sakura took a quick peek at the clock hung up over the door.

_1 AM already, huh? I really need to get home and get some rest… Working for the Hokage can be so tiring sometimes,_ Sakura thought to herself. She had worked for thirteen hours straight with only four hours of sleep. She was exhausted. She had been called very early – and not to mention very abruptly – by Shizune in the morning to help Tsunade-sama with what seemed to be very large amount of paperwork and such (although Sakura figured that the very procrastinating Hokage had set aside all this paperwork before to gamble and drink).

Sakura quietly slipped out of the Hokage's office just as Shizune nervously was telling the Hokage "I think you've had enough to drink for tonight, Lady Tsunade…" The pink-haired kunoichi quietly giggled as she heard Tsunade-sama yell, "Shizune! A woman like me needs their sake!"

A few minutes passed by as Sakura made her way outside. The warm night's breeze gently hit her face as she walked through the small village.

_It's so quiet, _Sakura thought to herself. Her boots crunched against the dirt on the ground as she wandered through. She passed Yamanaka Ino's home. She knew that the young Yamanaka wasn't home; she was off on a mission with Nara Shikamaru and Akamichi Chouji. She sighed to herself.

"All I've been doing is working and sleeping," Sakura said to herself. She rubbed her eyes to help keep her awake as she sighed once again. For the past few weeks she had been feeling very lonely. Close to all of her friends were busy doing other jobs around the village to help prepare them for the war, or they had gone off on a mission. Lady Tsunade had said that there would be more missions that would be given to the Chuunins because the Jonins were too busy.

Wanting to get home quickly, Sakura quickened her pace. She had passed Inuzuka Kiba's home already. She had bumped into him the other day, while he was delivering important messages. She thought back to their conversation.

_"Kiba-kun, you've been busy lately too, huh?" Sakura asked.  
><em>

_"Oh yeah, the Hokage's been giving us a load of stuff to do, hasn't she boy?" Kiba had said while getting off an impatient Akamaru and scratching him behind the ears. Akamaru barked gleefully.  
><em>

_"Anyways, guess who I ran into the other day while on my mission to the Sand? Naruto – the idiot," Kiba had said with that huge grin of his. Sakura's eyes widened; her heart paced faster a little.  
><em>

_"Really? Naruto?" She hasn't heard the idiot say 'Sakura-chan will you go on a date with me?' in a while. The village was oddly quiet without him.  
><em>

_"Yeah, he said he's really busy training and all that stuff." Kiba said with a shrug. "He doesn't know when he's going to be back though. Anyway, Akamaru and I have to go or else the Hokage is going to rip our heads off. See ya," he said with a roll of the eyes and that grin again. He quickly got onto Akamaru and they sped away, probably off to deliver some more messages.  
><em>

_Sakura stood there as she waved goodbye. After they were out of sight, she put her arm down. She looked thoughtfully into the sky.  
>Naruto… when are you coming back?<br>_

The kunoichi was not nearly close to home. She looked at the ground, her feet scuffling against the ground. She was so lonely; but she knew that everyone had to be busy; the war was going to start soon and they had to prepare. She started to think of the old days – when Team 7 still existed. When they went on cat-finding missions… When Sasuke and Naruto compete against each other in everything they did… When Naruto would always mess up and she would tell him off for it… When Sasuke used to be there with them – with their village… _with their team_._  
><em>

Her gaze stayed on the ground until she heard footsteps in front of her.

_Who would be awake this late?_ Sakura thought to herself as she looked up. Her eyes spotted a person wearing a very familiar looking orange jumpsuit and sported that oh, so familiar blonde hair.

_Naruto? _

Her heart almost skipped a beat, she felt it. She wanted to scream his name, to run up and hug him – but she would_ never, ever, _do that_._ No, _never_… But he was just there, walking his usual way – his hands behind his head. He walked so carefree; so happy. Sakura's heart started to warm up, and she didn't even know why.

She wasn't sure if she should call his name or not. He was quite close, but not too close for him to notice her presence.

Sakura's head was going crazy. She closed her eyes. _Maybe he's tired… He wouldn't want to talk to me. Although why not? I haven't seen him for three weeks! He owes me at least a hello! I'm on his team, I'm his comrade, I'm his… Why am I getting so worked up about this? Ugh, he's such an idiot! Why, why, why am I thinking these things? It's not a big deal… Why is my heart beating so fast? So I haven't seen him in three weeks. So what? It's not like I missed that babbling idiot or anything! What a baka… Oh, Sakura, just say his name! No, I need to go home and sleep… He's probably heading home to his instant-ramen infested house anyway. Oh the way he eats ramen; I don't know how he does it – wait, what… why am I thinking this?_ She held her head a little. How this was giving her a slight headache and –

"Sakura-chan?"

Sakura took her hands off her head and blinked a few times. Her vision was a little blurred for a few moments but it all came into focus. Her fellow comrade, Uzumaki Naruto, was standing right in front of her, his head slightly cocked to the side.

_Naruto…_


	2. Chapter 2

**Reviews would be very much appreciated! ^^; Thank you, and I hope you enjoy!**

**-chid0ri**  
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><p>"Naruto!"<p>

He did that dumb smile of his… as always.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said; his voice soft. "You don't look so great, are you okay?" he got very close to her face.

"Not so close!" she said, backing away while clobbering him on the head.

"Ow, _Sakura-chaaan_!"

"But yes, I'm okay, thank you." She gave him a slight smile and started to walk. Naruto just gazed at the kunoichi in front of him as she walked away. He rubbed his head, although he had gotten worse from Sakura before. He then grinned and followed her. They walked together, through the village of Konoha.

"Sakura-chan, why are you out so late?" Naruto asked her.

"Tsunade-sama has been making me work like crazy," Sakura explained, "everyone's been working very hard lately. She's even got Shikamaru on his toes."

Naruto grinned. "That's Granny Tsunade for you." He closed his eyes while laughing.

Sakura walked with him still, as she gazed into the dark sky. The stars shone bright; it was very pretty. Her gaze fell onto Naruto as he smiled; so carefree like before. He had his arms back behind his head again – the way he always walked. He was always so happy and energetic. Even after being away for three weeks on a mission – which was probably very difficult, knowing that it was an A-Rank – he was still so gleeful and perky. She wasn't sure if she could ever recall Naruto being in a bad mood… besides those times when he couldn't get his ramen.

"Sakura-chan?"

Oh. She had been looking at him for far too long. Usually, she would have looked away and called him an idiot… but for some reason, on this particular night, she didn't do that. Instead, she closed her eyes and smiled at him. A real smile – a smile that only Naruto could somehow make her do for him.

She opened her eyes to see him smiling as well.

"How was your mission, Naruto?" she asked him. Naruto seemed a little surprised by her friendliness at this hour.

"It was hard," Naruto said, looking away. He was silent for a moment, but then said, "It made me train even more… and since I was with Kakashi-sensei, he made me train even harder… but you know what?"

"What?"

Naruto smiled at Sakura. His warm, peaceful smile… it warmed up Sakura's heart even more.

They still walked together, as the breeze flew past them. The trees swayed and leaves scraped against the stoned-path.

"If it gets us closer to Sasuke, then it's worth it."

Sakura didn't speak for a moment. She didn't know what to say. She looked at Naruto, and to her surprise, he was smiling. He was always smiling; always smiling for her, for Sasuke, for everyone.

Sakura giggled to herself, her gaze setting forward again. They walked side by side… together. The trees still swayed, the leaves still scraped against the ground, the night was still dark and beautiful… and Uzumaki Naruto's smile was still there. It would always be there. He would never know it, but Sakura loved to see his smile.

"Why are you laughing, Sakura-chan?"

"At your idiotic face," Sakura said, laughing even harder.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, that's not –"He started, but Sakura then hit him hard on the shoulder. Naruto's arm flung to his shoulder as she stumbled back. "Hey, what was that for?" he said, his voice aspirated.

"For being away for three weeks," she said. She then walked towards him. Naruto just stared at her.

"What…?"

"This is painful to say, Naruto…" Sakura said, as she stood in front of him. Her gaze drifted off to the sky once again.

Sakura couldn't believe she was saying this to him. This was the truth, though, and she felt like it had to be said. For some reason, like before, it was just on this particular night that she would ever say something like this to such a fool. But the smiling fool, that was her teammate – Her _friend. _  
>Sakura thought back to a few moments before. Whenever he was around, he made her heart warm. But tonight, it made her heart even warmer. She loved to see his carefree self. His happiness was so peaceful. She then realized why it had been so quiet in the village; because Naruto was gone. She wondered back to all those times when he was gone why she always craved ramen. She wondered why she always wanted to go to Ichiraku's, even though she knew he wouldn't be there. Why, oh why, did he have this affect on her? He gave her headaches from him being such an idiot, yet he made her so warm inside when he smiled. Half the time she was with him, she wanted to just punch him and tell him he was an idiot… but he made her so happy at the same time, despite his barbaric self. What was this feeling that was in her stomach… her body…Her <em>heart<em>?

Then she knew… She didn't feel lonely anymore. In fact, she felt comfortable. She felt secure and safe. Why? She figured she felt this way because Uzumaki Naruto was with her; while battling, while on missions, while training, while trying to rescue Sasuke… while right in front of her at this very moment…

She then spoke, her voice quiet but still audible to the blonde-headed ninja.

_"I missed you, baka."_


End file.
